Pakistani Hindus urged for liberal visa regime from India Government

By Gopinath Kumar (Executive Editor)
Thursday, July 1, 2010

Amritsar : Apparently miffed over city-specific visas granted to Pakistani Hindus and other tourists, Pakistani Sindhis have urged the Indian Government to issue countrywide visas and adopt a liberal visa regime to improve bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.

A group of about 250 Pakistani Sindhis landed at the Attari border check post today. They will be visiting the Golden Temple, Vaishno Devi and other places in India before their return to Pakistan on July 25.

They have also urged India and Pakistan to include the issues of grant of liberal visa to the people of the two countries and open trade between the two countries in the list of issues to be discussed during the forthcoming talks between the Pakistani and Indian Foreign Ministers on July 15 and 16.

“Pakistani tourists face an array of problems as they are granted city-specific visas by the Indian Government. Instead, they should be accorded permission to visit the entire country. This can act as a strong confidence-building measure,” said Shankar, a Sindhi tourist. Similarly, Bhag Chand, another tourist, sought better trade exchange between the two countries as increased trade could break the ice between the two countries.

“Better trade ties have the power to bring closer the people of the two countries. It has happened in the case of a number of countries the world over,” said another tourist, while expressing hope that the day was not far off when people of the two countries would be able to visit India and Pakistan freely.